6. We see here the sovereignty of God, both in His providence and grace. We read of one being taken and another left; but here three are taken, and only one left.
7. Does not God, sometimes, put peculiar honour upon His professing people, however He sees fit to try them? If He takes one of a Gentile city, He takes two of a Christian family, and brings them to Zion.
8. We observe, too, the earliness and efficacy of His work on the minds of some, so that "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He perfects His own praise."
9. Attention, however, may be called to the value of early and maternal instruction. These children were instructed for the most part by their mother, who watched over them with incessant care, keeping them separate from the masses, and attending to their education as an important duty.
"There is not a grand inspiring thought,
There is not a truth by wisdom taught,
There is not a feeling pure or high,
That may not be read in a mother's eye.
"There are teachings on earth, and sky, and air;
The heavens the glory of God declare;
But more loud than the voice beneath, above,
Is the voice that speaks through a mother's love."
W. P.
BROUGHT TO THE FOLD.
Louisa Ann Jeeves, of Pewsey, Wilts, died on March 24th, 1888, aged twenty-four years. She sat under the truth until she was about twenty, when she left the place for a short time. But, when taken seriously ill, it appears that the Lord laid the weight of her sins upon her, and she felt that she had slighted the means of truth, which was a trouble to her. The clergyman called, and wished to administer the Sacrament to her, but she refused, and told him she dare not, for she had not felt the pardon of her sins. From this time she sank very low, and felt her sins to be a heavy burden. She now eagerly read her Bible, in which she marked many portions. Her bodily sufferings were very great, but she bore them without a murmur. Her sins, and the state of her soul before God, seemed always uppermost.
I had known her from a child, and hoped there was some good thing in her; but when she left the place of truth, I was afraid my hope was vain.
I visited her often after my return to Pewsey, and found her in great concern about her soul. She said she knew that nothing but an application of the blood of Christ could suffice for her great sins, and this she longed to feel. She asked me to read and pray with her, which I was enabled to do, believing the Lord had given her true conviction of sin. Each time I called she was greatly distressed, and seemed without hope; and this went on until the last week of her life, when she begged me to stay with her altogether, and whenever we were alone she wished me to read and pray. She would cry out in agony, "Oh, what shall I do if I don't get to heaven?"